VOLUME 1, ISSUE 6OCT. 2009

What a start to the season - from theutter elation of beating that northLondon team to the debacle that waslast Saturday. Well, you know it is all partand parcel of being a Chelsea supporter.The ups and the downs, and though wehave been utterly spoiled the last fewyears with the strength and winningways of our team, we should neverforget how lucky we are at this time inour history. Let us also never forget thatin our darkest days of playing less thanstellar football, and losing more than wewon, Chelsea supporters were renownedas the loudest and best supporters inthe land. So now in these great times, letus all remember that history from ourside of the stadium and bring to ourteam and our club the loudest and ﬁnestsupport in the WORLD! Yes, on thiscontinent as well. We were all amazed atthe support we mustered for thesummer games, and let us continuefrom there.

Today I was surprised to get the new USemail with a note from our captain witha note of thanks for the support fromthe summer and also hisacknowledgement that he knows we arehere doing it every week. We can’t lethim and the team down. There were alsosome links for deals on the USMegastore, contests and more. So if youdidn’t get it, you might wonder why?First, always check your spam folder incase some silly setting someplacemistook Chelsea info for spam. If youare a True Blue member, you shouldhave gotten it. And if you are a CIAmember, there is an extra step. There isa form you need to return to me or tothe club that will do the trick - one of the beneﬁts of registering your “a

liate”status as a CIA member with Chelsea. Itonly takes a moment, and, along with acontest each month, the new USnewsletter will be delivered to you. Ihave sent a couple of announcementsout via email and there is a thread onthe board as well to the form and whatto do. So if you missed it, here it is fromthe Announcements part of the CIAmembers only part of the board.

You can access this form at http://www.chelseainamerica.com/true_blue_bronze_data_form.doc andonce ﬁlled in you need to print, sign andreturn it to Chelsea. You have severaloptions for doing this as follows:Mail it to the address on the form.Complete, sign, scan and e-mail back tosupportersclubs@chelseafc.comFax it free to 800-829-0633Mail it to 2235 Mistletoe Blvd., FortWorth, TX 76110

Once it gets to the club either directly orthrough me, they will enter your name inthe database and you are through. Itmight take a few days.

We are now over 300 members strongand yet only a handful have ﬁlled in theirform and gotten it back to the club, justso you know. Also if you are a True Bluemember, or not, but a CIA familymember, do ﬁll it out for your spouseand kids. For the kids, all you need to dois give their names and their age, andthat is it. With more than 300 memberswe could be one of the largest clubs inthe world, but it will take you goingthrough the paces of sending in youra

liate form. So it's up to you.

I also want to remind everyone about allthat is available to you. There is theboard and the IM on the board. Don’tforget all our di

erent Twitter accounts,and don’t forget the podcast, both toparticipate in and listen to. All of this isrun and monitored by fellow membersthat are taking their free time to helpout, so please, let them know how muchyou appreciate it by participating.

On another note, I want to remind all of

CONTRIBUTORS:

A big thanks to everyone whohelps make the CIA Bluesletterpossible!Editor: Jamie EdwardsChairwoman: Beth WildLogo and Graphics: Raciel DiazDates to Remember: Tel StevensProofreaders: Dorothy Cooperand Sarah DrakeCIA Crest done in collaborationwith Who Are Ya Designs -www.whoareyadesigns.comWant to contribute or make asuggestion? Send Jamie anemail at newsletter@chelseainamerica.com!

DEEP FROM THE HEART

Notes from the Chairwoman

Continued on Page 4

•Notes from theChairwoman•Tel's Season inQuestion•Black & BlueBook Review•5 QuestionsFor...•The South BayBlues•CIA on Twitter!

TEL'S SEASON IN QUESTION: 2003-4

This month I thought I would do aseason that wasn't too long ago. It wasa season where Chelsea would be aforce to be reckoned with. The seasonin question is 2003-04.After having to start the season earlyin the Champions league qualifyingrounds, Chelsea opened up with anaway game at Liverpool.

This was theﬁrst game of the "NEW ERA" withRoman Abramovich having bought usduring the close season. Things couldnot have got o

to a better start asVeron (remember him?) gave us a 25thminute lead. In the 79th minute,Bridgey brought down Diouf. Owenstepped up to take the penalty only tosend it wide, but to our dismay it hadto be retaken as Carlo had moved fromhis line. This time Owen made nomistake: 1-1. With 2 minutes left, JFHﬁred one into the top far corner to giveus a precious win at the Bindippers.

Our next game was a 2-1 home winover Leicester, with goals from Mutuand an own goal. This game end upwith 3 sending o

s - Geremi went forus.

The last game in August was vs.Blackburn at home, which ended in adisappointing 2-2.

Goals from Mutuand a JFH penalty.

September saw us start with anemphatic win over our old rivals Spurs.After going behind to a Zamora goal,goals from Lamps & Mutu within twominutes of each other put us in front.Another from Mutu and one right atthe end from Jimmy gave us a 4-2win.

Our following match was a stroll tonewly promoted Wolves where we tookthe points in a 0-5 win, Crespomanaging to grab a brace. Villa wereour next opponents at the Bridge. Jimmy got us the only goal in a hardfought game.

So going into October we had 16points from a possible 18. Things weregoing well as we headed up North toBoro, and thanks to a goal in the 88thminute from sub Crespo we stole thepoints, winning 1-2.

Next up was atrip to Birmingham and even thoughthis was a 0-0 it did put us top of theLeague over Arsenal. Le Arse justhappened to be our next opponents,but unfortunately we went one down inthe 5th minute only for Crespo to getone back 3 minutes later. Henry scoredthe winner due to a howler of amistake by Carlo. Thankfully, weended October with a 1-0 home winover Man City.

November saw us start away atEverton, and thanks to a 49th minutegoal from Mutu we came away with allthree points. After our exploits inEurope, which we'll review later, wehad a home game against Newcastle,who always seemed very generouswhen they come to the Bridge. Andthis was to be no exception as wehammered them 5-0; goals fromLamps, Johnson, Crespo, Du

andEidur sealed a great win.

Next up was a tricky away game atSouthampton, but again we came awaywith all three points with a Melchiotright footer in the bottom corner. Theend of November paired us up withManchester United, and once again wethrashed them 1-0 thanks to a Lampspenalty.

Since our loss to Le Arse inOctober

our defense were holdingstrong and nobody had scored sinceHenry - ﬁve games in total. But thatwas about to end as we had a trip upto Dirty Leeds.

After going 1 down

itwas thanks to Mutu that we sneakedout with a point. It was two weeksbefore Christmas, and we had a homegame against Bolton. Things startedwell with Crespo giving us a 22ndminute lead, but in the 90th minute JTscored an OG to give Bolton all threepoints. Things got back to normal aswe walked to our next away gamedown the road at Fulham, and a goalfrom Crespo just past the hour got usall the points. Next up was a 4-2 awaydefeat to Charlton and two days later itwas a home this time vs. PompeyThree goals in the last 25 minutesmade for a happy journey

to the pub.

Our ﬁrst game of the New Year saw usentertain Liverpool, but things didn'tgo quite to plan, and we lost 0-1. Thiswas our fourth defeat in seven games;the title was slipping from sight.Birmingham were

up next in a poorgame that ended 0-0.

Thankfully February arrived and resultstook an upturn with victories againstBlackburn and Pompey away

and ahome win vs. Charlton, which saw ustake all 9 points. But we still had toplay

our nearest challengers to secondplace, Le Arse, who were the visitors.Things couldn't have started betterwith a goal in the ﬁrst minute fromEidur. But within 20 minutes we were1-2 down and that’s the way it stayed.The title wasn't going to happen thisseason as we were now 9 points o

the top. Ah well, we'd see what nextseason brings. The end of Februarysaw us sneak a 0-1 win at Man City.

In March, we started with a 0-2 win atBolton with two goals in the last 19minutes from Terry and Du

. A homewin against Fulham, 2-1, saw us keepin touch for second place. Next up wasa home game vs. Wolves, Theywere

1-2 up with 20 minutes to go,Then after Lamps scored, it was timefor a bit of history Jimmy came o

thebench to claim a hat trick, scoring allthree goals in 13 minutes. He is theonly Chelsea player to have scored

ahat trick after starting on the bench.

April had us travelling to 3 Point Laneand yes, you guessed right, we took allthree points thanks to a Jimmy goal inthe 38th minute. We kind of lost theplot slightly for the rest of April: a 0-0at home to Boro, a 3-2 defeat at thedreaded Villa and a 2-1 defeat inGeordie land.

In May, we started with a resounding4-0 win over Southampton; this was amassive step in pipping Manure Nitedto second place. Next up was a trip tothe House Of Horrors and with 10 menthey couldn't stop us nicking a pointand in doing so automatic qualiﬁcationto the Champions League. Our lastmatch of the season was ameaningless a

air against a very poorDirty Leeds. A 20th minute goal fromGronkjaer would send the fans homehappy till the start of the new season.

Continued on Page 3PAGE 2

In the League Cup, we beat NottsCounty 4-2 at home, Reading away0-1, but lost to Villa 2-1 away in thequarterﬁnals.

In the FA Cup, we beat Watford in areplay at the Bridge 4-2, and then itwas o

to Scarborough for a 1-0 win.The ﬁfth round was where it endedwith a 2-1 defeat at The Library.

The Champions League started with anaway win at Sparta Prague, but we thenlost at home 2-0 to Besiktas. We thensaw o

Lazio at home 2-1 and 0-4away - Carlo’s best game for us by theway. We struggled to get a pointagainst Sparta, but it was enough forthe next round. Our last group gamewas to exact revenge for losing 2-0 athome to Besiktas,

and we promptlybeat them 2-0.

Next up was VFB Stuttgart, where wesneaked a 1-0 away win and drew 0-0at the Bridge, enough to put us in thelast eight. We were team up against LeArse, the ﬁrst leg being at home. Aftertaking a 53rd minute lead throughEidur, we gave it up 6 minutes laterafter Ashley Cole put in a great crossfor Pires to level.

The game at TheLibrary was one to go down in History,with THAT goal from Wayne Bridge.

The semi ﬁnal vs. Monaco was a bit of an anticlimax as Rainieri basicallyscrewed it up big time with his teamselection. Thankfully we got an awaygoal, which was the only good thing tocome out of this game. The next legwas at the Bridge; we only needed towin 2-0, right? It started great, 2-0 upheading to half time, but a lapse inconcentration saw Monaco get an all-important away goal.

Morientes scoredon the hour to send us spiraling out atthe semis. How sad!

Stats:

Leading

Score

r: Hasselbaink 18

Leading

Appearance

s: Lampard56

!!!!!!!

Average Home Attendance

: 41,234

Player of the Year

: Frank Lampard

"I never said I was an angel. I’m justhuman but please try not to let thishappen to you."

These words sum up a life that hasbeen more rough than smooth. Blackand Blue tells the gripping story of howPaul "Canners" Canoville, Chelsea’s ﬁrstblack player, struggled to survive in aworld that does not accept you for whoyou are. Unfortunately, racism was theleast of his problems. Growing up withno father and a strict mother whoshowed very little a

ection towards himand his sister June, by his mid-teens hewas interested in sports, music, drugs,girls, clothes and petty theft.

Despite family conﬂicts, he startedplaying for non-league HillingdonBorough and eventually signed forChelsea in December 1981. Hisexperience at Chelsea was supposed tobe a dream come true, but turned outto be nightmare. He made his debutduring a time when racism and violenceshadowed the terraces in the form of the National Front skinheads.

It’s a story that relates to anyone whohas been subjected to discrimination,and it is a lesson to those who witnessit and do nothing. He doesn’t shy awayfrom the unpleasant truths aboutChelsea. He recounts the racist abusehe took from fans of his own club and aconfrontation he had with a unnamedplayer at Chelsea. He also describesChelsea’s inability to respond to theracism or how to support him.

Paul wassold to Reading in August 1986, and inOctober of that year he su

ered adislocated knee injury that eventuallyended his professional career at the ageof 24. A crack addiction, prematurefatherhood and the emptiness of lifewithout football contributed to hisdownfall. But he su

ered another blowwhen he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, not once buttwice. He underwent a course of chemotherapy and is now in remissionfrom cancer.

Battling back from everything that theworld threw at him, it is a life markedby much uncertainty as bydetermination. His story deﬁes belief yet is able to ﬁnd something positiveout of it. Though Paul is not entirelycomfortable being hailed a pioneer,Canoville’s role at Chelsea is one thatcannot be ignored. "How there wouldbe no black champions, no Drogba orEssien, today without a Canoville. Not aHasselbaink, not a Gullit." For thisachievement alone, we should all begrateful.Black and Blue will take the readerthrough a roller coaster of emotions.You will laugh on one page then shed atear on the next. This is not a book justfor Chelsea supporters, but to anyonewho loves and supports football. It’scompelling to see someone who had amore di

cult life o

the pitch then onit. It’s refreshing to read a player’sbiography that is not hampered withtheir playing days, their achievementsand how they were caught up in somesort of scandal, but actually has animportant story to tell.

For Paul Canoville, his story is a mustread.

A BOOK REVIEW BY RENE RODRIGUEZ:

Black and Blue: How Racism, Drugs andCancer Almost Destroyed Me by PaulCanoville

Ed. note: Be sure to check out Paul Canoville's Legends Podcast atchelseainamerica.com!